Turkey is seeking to limit a $23 million deal with the U.S. as it seeks to buy fewer F-16 fighter jets, according to Bloomberg. At the same time, it is seeking an agreement to be able to build fighter jets locally.

Ankara is making efforts starting in 2021 to buy 40 state-of-the-art F-16s from Lockheed Martin Corp., 79 kits to modernize its existing force, and hundreds of bombs and missiles. The US approved the purchase this year after Turkey ratified Sweden’s entry into NATO.

But now Turkey is looking to buy fewer sets of upgraded F-16s and less equipment to save millions of dollars amid much-needed cuts unfolding at home, according to sources involved in economic planning who spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity.

What does Ankara answer?

The country seems intent on developing its military aviation industry to meet some of its needs. Turkey’s defense and foreign ministries declined to comment.

Asked about plans to revise the convention during a news conference in Washington on Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dodged the question, saying that “the issue of these parts is something we always discuss”.

“Turkey’s decision to buy F-16 served political goals, in order to initiate relations with the US”said Nihat Ali Ozcan, a strategist at the Economic Policy Research Foundation in Ankara. “Having Washington’s signature, Turkey is now assessing its needs from a technical, military and economic point of view”.

The deal will allow Ankara to retire its outdated F-4 jets and modernize its existing fleet of F-16s temporarily until the country is able to develop its own warplanes.

US retaliation against Turkey for purchase of Russian S-400

The US has blocked Turkey from buying Lockheed’s most advanced fighter jet, the F-35, in retaliation for its decision to buy the Russian S-400 missile defense system. Ankara has been a proponent of the F-35, and its plan to buy about 100 jets has made it one of the top four foreign customers of fighter technology.

Ankara is seeking the US to lift sanctions on its defense industry, but has refused to reject the Russian S-400 system. He showed a willingness to compromise with Washington. NATO members are concerned that the S-400 system could endanger F-35 fighter jets.

The U.S. put a freeze on 10 Turkish companies that were ready to build $12 billion worth of F-35 parts, including the main fuselage produced by Turkish Aerospace Industries, according to a 2018 Bloomberg Government analysis.